SmartCrawl vs Yoast SEO (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 24, 2026, we pick SmartCrawl: it is third in our ranking of SEO plugins and apps, and it grades higher too, 3.2 against 2.6.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
SmartCrawl grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
SmartCrawl
WordPress SEO plugin from WPMU DEV with audits, schema and autolinks
Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO plugin with content analysis, schema and sitemaps
Which one is for you
Pick SmartCrawl if
- Fits if you want a guided setup and a one-click SEO checkup in WordPress
- Works for agencies already running client sites from WPMU DEV's Hub
Look elsewhere if
- Watch out: Pro isn't sold alone, so every paid plan is WPMU DEV's whole bundle of Pro plugins
- Tight if you stay free, as scheduled audits, auto-linking, IndexNow, regex redirects and white label need Pro
- Watch out: Premium is $4.99 a month for the first 3 months, then $9.99
- Skip it if your site isn't on WordPress, as there's no standalone app
Pick Yoast SEO if
- Fits if your site runs on WordPress and you want SEO checks shown while you write
- Works for writers who want readability notes next to the SEO ones
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if your site isn't on WordPress, as Yoast for Shopify and the Google Docs add-on are separate products
- Tight if you stay free, since redirects, link suggestions and AI drafts all need Premium
- Pricey if you run several sites, as each needs its own $118.80 a year and bulk discounts start at 5
- Watch out: AI Brand Insights on AI+ checks 5 questions once a week, and another brand means another $358.80
How we grade them
| 3.2GPASmartCrawlVery good | 2.6GPAYoast SEOGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | APro Basic is $50 a year for one site, about $4.17 a month, and brings WPMU DEV's other Pro plugins along. That's under 60% of this category's cheaper quarter. Premium is $9.99 a month for unlimited sites, after 3 months at $4.99. | CPremium is $118.80 a year for one site before VAT, about $9.90 a month, a bit above this category's cheaper quarter ($8.25). WooCommerce SEO is $178.80 and AI+ is $358.80, each for one site or brand. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe WordPress.org plugin has no caps: a setup wizard, SEO checkup, titles and meta, sitemaps, social tags, a schema builder, 301 redirects, breadcrumbs and post checks. Scheduled audits and auto-linking are Pro. | BThe free plugin writes meta tags, canonicals, sitemaps, schema, breadcrumbs and llms.txt, and checks one keyphrase per post. One site could run on it, but redirects, link suggestions and AI drafts aren't in it at all. |
| Features | BKeyword and readability checks, sitemaps, social tags, a schema builder the product page puts at 150+ types, redirects, scheduled audits and crawls, auto-linking and IndexNow. It covers the whole job, with the audits on Pro. | BContent and readability checks, meta tags, schema, sitemaps, redirects, internal link suggestions, Local, Video and News SEO, and an AI crawler blocker. It covers the whole job, with redirects and links on Premium only. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. A setup wizard walks you through it inside WordPress, but there are title formats, sitemap types and schema to choose before it's done. | CNo rating on record. It sits in the WordPress admin, but each post needs a keyphrase set before the checks tell you much, and there are site-wide settings to go through first. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, inside WordPress. It connects to Moz and IndexNow, works with WooCommerce, and ties into WPMU DEV's Hub for managing client sites. | BWeb only, inside WordPress, with no app of its own. It works with Semrush, Wincher, Elementor, Site Kit, WooCommerce, Advanced Custom Fields, Algolia and Jetpack. The Shopify version is a separate product. |
| Best for | WordPress SEO inside WPMU DEV's plugin bundle | SEO checks inside the WordPress editor |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: SmartCrawl and Yoast SEO. How we grade
Price against what you get
SmartCrawl starts at $4.17 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Yoast SEO starts at $9.90 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and SmartCrawl starts $5.73 a month lower. Of the other SEO plugins and apps on the chart, none scores higher than SmartCrawl for less, and 1 scores higher than Yoast SEO for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- SmartCrawl also covers site audit.
- Yoast SEO also covers AI search visibility.
At a glance
| SmartCrawl | Yoast SEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $50 per year for 1 site | $118.80 per year for 1 site, ex VAT |
| Free plan | Free plugin on WordPress.org: setup wizard, SEO checkup, titles and meta, XML sitemaps, social tags, schema types builder, 301 redirects, breadcrumbs and content analysis. | Free plugin from WordPress.org: SEO and readability analysis for one keyphrase, meta tags, canonicals, XML sitemaps, schema, breadcrumbs, llms.txt and a bulk metadata editor. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | WPMU DEV | Yoast BV |
| Price read from | wpmudev.com | yoast.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
SmartCrawl
- It runs only inside WordPress; there is no standalone app.
- Scheduled audits and crawls, automatic linking, IndexNow, advanced redirects and white label need a Pro plan.
- SmartCrawl Pro is not sold alone: every paid plan is WPMU DEV's bundle of Pro plugins, such as Smush Pro and Forminator Pro.
- Premium is $9.99 a month after a first 3 months at $4.99; paid plans have a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Yoast SEO
- It runs only inside WordPress; Yoast SEO for Shopify and the Google Docs add-on are separate products.
- Each paid subscription covers one site, billed yearly before VAT; bulk discounts start at 5 subscriptions bought together.
- Redirects, internal linking suggestions and AI drafting need Premium; the free plugin has none of them.
- AI Brand Insights runs one weekly analysis of 5 questions per brand, with no extra runs; another brand needs another subscription.
Key features
SmartCrawl
- SEO checkup and content analysis
- Runs a checkup with fixes to apply, and grades each post for keyword use and readability in the editor, on the free plugin.
- Titles, sitemaps and social tags
- Sets title and description formats, builds XML sitemaps with chosen post types and taxonomies, and adds Open Graph, Twitter cards and Pinterest verification.
- Schema types builder
- Adds and customizes schema for articles, web pages, reviews, products, local businesses and more; the product page counts 150+ schema types.
- Scheduled audits and crawls
- Pro runs SEO audits and URL crawls on a schedule, finding broken URLs, 404s and redirect chains, with white-label reports for clients.
- Automatic linking
- Pro turns chosen keywords into internal or external links across the site automatically.
- Redirects and indexing
- 301 redirects are free; Pro adds regex and location-based redirects and notifies search engines of changes through IndexNow.
Yoast SEO
- Content and readability analysis
- Red, orange and green ratings in the editor for SEO and readability. The free plugin checks one keyphrase; Premium checks up to five, with word forms in 20+ languages.
- Technical SEO and schema
- Writes meta tags, canonical URLs, XML sitemaps, breadcrumbs and Schema.org data automatically. Premium outputs more schema types and joins them into one graph.
- AI metadata drafts
- Premium drafts SEO titles and meta descriptions page by page or in bulk, and nothing saves until it is approved. There is no separate AI subscription or credit pack.
- Redirects and internal links
- Premium prompts for a redirect when a page is moved or deleted, imports redirects by CSV, suggests internal links while writing and finds orphaned posts.
- AI crawler controls
- Manages an llms.txt file on every plan; Premium adds a bot blocker for AI training crawlers such as GPTBot, CCBot and Google-Extended.
- AI Brand Insights
- On the AI+ plan, a weekly report on whether 5 set questions in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity mention the brand, with sentiment, citations and competitor ranking.
Plans
SmartCrawl
Free$0
The WordPress.org plugin with on-page settings, sitemaps, schema, 301 redirects and an SEO checkup.
Pro Basic$50
per year for 1 site
SmartCrawl Pro and the rest of WPMU DEV's Pro plugins on 1 site, with a CDN allowance, backup storage and 24/7 support.
Pro Standard$75
per year for 3 sites
The same Pro plugin suite on 3 sites.
Pro Plus$100
per year for 10 sites
The same Pro plugin suite on 10 sites.
Premium$9.99
per month for unlimited sites
All Pro plugins on unlimited sites, plus hosting discounts, a reseller platform, unlimited seats and CRM. $4.99 a month for the first 3 months.
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO$0
The free WordPress.org plugin: content and readability analysis, meta tags, sitemaps, schema, breadcrumbs and llms.txt.
Yoast SEO Premium$118.80
per year for 1 site, ex VAT
AI titles and descriptions, 5 keyphrases per page, redirect manager, internal linking, Local, Video and News SEO plugins and 24/7 support.
Yoast WooCommerce SEO$178.80
per year for 1 site, ex VAT
Everything in Premium plus product schema, product content checks, store sitemaps, canonicals and AI metadata for products.
Yoast SEO AI+$358.80
per year for 1 brand, ex VAT
WooCommerce SEO plus AI Brand Insights: a weekly check of 5 brand questions in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity, with sentiment and citations.
Ways to pay less
SmartCrawl
- Other savings
Premium at half price for 3 months
WPMU DEV's pricing page shows Premium at $4.99 a month for the first 3 months, then $9.99 a month.
Yoast SEO
- Other savings
Bulk discount from 5 subscriptions
Yoast takes 5% off 5 or more subscriptions of the same product bought in one order, rising to 40% off 75 or more; 100 or more is quoted.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, SmartCrawl or Yoast SEO?
As of Oct 23, 2026, SmartCrawl is cheaper to start with: $4.17 a month when paid by the year, against $9.90 a month when paid by the year for Yoast SEO. SmartCrawl starts at $50 per year for 1 site, and Yoast SEO starts at $118.80 per year for 1 site, ex VAT.
Which has a free plan, SmartCrawl or Yoast SEO?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both SmartCrawl and Yoast SEO have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.